280 GRAMINExE. Culamagwstis. 



the Dcijeuxia section of the genus, I. c.) refers to tliis species. The panicle is light brown or 

 darker' purplish-brown, sometimes purplish. In both cases the awn exceeds the palet by nearly 

 a line and is attaclird aliout uia-tliird below the til). 



3. C deschampsioides, Trin. Culms tufted, erect from a decumbent hase, 

 which is thickly covered by withered remains of .slieatli.s, 5 to 10 inches high, smooth, 

 half equalled by the basal leaves : culm leaves 1 to 2 inches long, loosely convolute, 

 smooth, the uppermost erect, smaller ; ligule about a line long, split ; sheaths as long 

 as the internodes, smooth : panicle ovate, 1 to 1 -| inches long, open, few-iiowered ; 

 rays in pairs or ternate, divided above the middle and bearing about 5 flowers, and 

 with the rhachis smooth : spikelets 2 lines long, more or less purple-tinged : glumes 

 equal, broadly lanceolate, acute, as long as or barely equalling the floret : lower palet 

 nearly smooth, membranaceous, lacerate-toothed at apex, slightly scabrous on the 

 nerves, bearing at or below the middle a stout somewhat divergent awn which is 

 exserted about one-tliird the length of the palet ; hairs at base delicate, fairly copious, 

 one-half to two-thirds its length ; upper palet quite equalling and similar in texture 

 to the other, 2-nerved and irregularly 2 -toothed : rudiment a brief process, scarcely 

 one-tifth the length of the palet and naked, or somewhat longer with very short 

 hairs. — Trin. Spec. Gram, iii, t. 354 ; Griseb. in Ledeb. Flor. Ross, iv, 427. C. 

 rubescens, Buckl. in Proc. Phil. Acad. 1862, 92 (1) ; Gray, in same, 334. 



Alaska and Arctic Asia, but not certainly found within our territory. The plant called C ru- 

 hesceiis by Buckley is doubtfully referred here by Gray, of which only an inqjerfect fragment is 

 found in the herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy, said to have been collected in Oregon by 

 Nuttall. It is a sjjecies likely to occur, and from its close resemblance in habit to C. Breiveri 

 miglit readily be confounded with that species. In our northern specimens the rudiment is no 

 more tlian barbellate, but Trinius's figure gives it as distinctly though not copiously plumose. 



4. C. Bolanderi. More or less scabrous throughout : culm 2 to 3 feet high, 

 geniculate : leaves liat, 6 to 10 inches long, 2 to 4 lines wide, the uppermost a half 

 smaller, pale yellowish-green : ligule about 2 lines long, truncate, erose or lacerate ; 

 sheaths scarcely half as long as the internodes, rather loose : panicle 3 to 8 inches 

 long, loose, blackish purple, becoming brownish ; rays in threes and fives, very slen- 

 der^ rather erect, at length spreading or even deflexed, the branches few-flowered 

 above the middle : spikelets 1|- lines long on longer pedicels : glumes equal, lanceo- 

 late, acutish, minutely hairy, rough on the keel, the margins above minutely ciliate : 

 floret barely shorter ; lower palet minutely rough-tuberculate, often bifid, the lateral 

 nerves slightly exQUrrent ; hairs at base few and unequal, short, mostly at the sides ; 

 awn attached nearly at base, the lower half twisted and lodged in a dorsal groove, 

 divergent above and exserted just below the tips of the glumes ; upper palet slightly 

 shorter, of similar texture, broad, 2-nerved, 2-toothed, and somewhat rough-tubercu- 

 late between the nerves : rudiment half the length of the floret, with long hairs. — 

 C. varia {%), Boland. Cat. 34. 



Swamps, Mendocino County, Bolrmder, n. 6471 (in part). A strikingly handsome species ; the 

 yellowish-green color of the plant contrasted with the blackish-purple of the jjanicle must make it 

 conspicuous, while a closer inspection shows the bright whiteness of the Horet in strong contrast 

 with the deep color of the glumes. The roughness of the palets is unlike anything we remember 

 to have seen in grasses, appearing under the microscoi)e like minute glistening grains of silex. In 

 the specimens the groove running lengthwise of the lower palet and forming a lodgment for the 

 awn is very distinct and well-defined ; whether it remains in fruit is uncertain. 



5. C. Breweri, Thurber. Culms densely tufted, 6 to 15 inches high, erect, 

 very slender, bearing 2 short distant leaves : radical leaves 2 or 3 inches long, 

 setaceously involute, minutely scabrous above ; upper ligule acute, decurrent, 2 lines 

 long, the lower lacerate ; sheaths close, strongly striate : panicle loose, 1 to 3 inches 

 long ; rays solitary or clustered, divaricate or more or less erect, barely equalling the 

 interspaces, 1 - 3-flowered : spikelets blackish-purple, 1 1 or 2 lines long, smooth or 

 slightly roughened above : lower palet nearly ecpialling the acute glumes, minutely 

 4-toothed, slightly roughened, more or less lined witli purple, and with a small tuft 

 of minute unequal hairs at each side ; awn from above the base, exserted about a 



